Why I carry a gun

[K Frame]

So, I was at the local grocery late this morning doing my weekly trip. It's not even a mile from my house.

When I come out there are cops and EMS everywhere. Must have been at least a dozen county and city police units and at least one county sheriff's unit.

Someone said that there had been an assault and possible robbery, in broad daylight, on the first floor of the parking garage that serves the "town center" commercial and residential zone where the grocery is.

This isn't exactly a bad neighborhood, but there are elements. A fair number of homeless (most of whom keep to themselves but a number who are... potentially volatile) but some other less than savory individuals, also. Not a high crime area, but crime has been creeping up.

I've always got my head on a swivel when I go there, especially in the evening, and especially when I park on the second story, which is a lot less traveled than the first floor.

Hopefully something will pop up on local news or the local patch with some details on what actually happened.

It would appear that the individual who committed the act was on the loose because the police helicopter was circling the area for a good 20 minutes.

[Ben]

My plan is always to be in condition yellow-ish getting gas, getting in and out of the car in parking lots, locking the car as soon as I'm in it, being aware of suspicious characters, etc., but I certainly become complacent. Always good to get reminders to get back with the program.

[Boomhauer]

My sister is a cop in NC. Not a huge city but a roughish one. Two weeks ago she worked a shooting in a grocery store…at four in the afternoon.

[Bogie]

Here in STL, we call police helicopters "Ghetto Birds."
 
If I gas up at Thunderdome, I have the 1911 tucked in the front of my pants. Really damn obvious. Rarely get bothered.

[230RN]

I don't drive at night much anymore, but my most vulnerable time was unloading the shopping cart into the back of my wagon.  I'm facing the car, concentrating on my grocery placement --not a big deal but it is diverting.  It usually wasn't until I slammed the lid that I would think I should have been watching my back.

Shopping in daytime it's not as risky, but it still isn't until I close the lid that I remember that.

Gotta watch those little distractions.  Twenty-four-seven, not just at night.

"Crime is climbing up."  No kiddin'.

[K Frame]

Oh for *expletive deleted*ck's sake! I went looking to see if anything had popped up on the local patch news site about this, and I found this story from February 20...

This is the same grocery store!

Yeah, I think it's time to start carrying my .38 again.

"FAIRFAX CITY, VA — City of Fairfax Police arrested a 28-year-old man who was said to be brandishing a machete at a city grocery store on the afternoon of Feb. 14.

Officers responded around 2:53 p.m., to the Giant Food at 9400 Fairfax Blvd. for the report of a man that had been previously trespassed and was on store property. When the man was asked to leave, he produced a machete and then fled the business.

Officers located the suspect, whom they identified as Luis Rodriguez Rivas of no fixed address, and took him into custody. Police took Rodriguez Rivas to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, where he was charged with brandishing a machete and trespassing. He was then held on no bond."

[French G.]

My sister is a cop in NC. Not a huge city but a roughish one. Two weeks ago she worked a shooting in a grocery store…at four in the afternoon.

Gastonia?

[HankB]

Bad things can happen anywhere, even in good areas . . . which are seldom more than a short drive away from bad areas and their people.

I haven't had to draw my gun on anyone - but there were a couple of dicey situations where I was glad I had it with me, and one time I discretely had my hand on it. (Pocket carry - nobody was the wiser.)  In each case instead of sticking around, I made it my business to be elsewhere.

[Bogie]

Problem is that there are so many chemically modified folks out running around, and they have VERY poor impulse control... Couple that with a lot of people who have been told that they have been oppressed since they entered the government indoctrination system, and that they should have a fiery hatred going on... Add in the chemical modification, and things can get freaky fast.

 
Every so often, I get to say "That's bullshit. Leave!"

[Kingcreek]

I grew up in a small Midwest town that used to be 13k people, now closer to 11k. Almost no crime.
When I was a teenager we had 8 cops with 2 cruisers and the chiefs car.
Now they have 46 FT officers with a fleet of vehicles and increased county and state support.
We used to go decades without a murder. Now we have 1 or 2 a year. Drug related. Shootings, stabbings, stolen vehicles, DV. We have carloads of baby daddies and bangers from Chicago that go back and forth.
you name it we got it.
I live 6 miles out in a quiet wooded valley. I carry when I go to town but I avoid it at night and whenever possible.

[230RN]

Problem is that there are so many chemically modified folks out running around, and they have VERY poor impulse control... Couple that with a lot of people who have been told that they have been oppressed since they entered the government indoctrination system, and that they should have a fiery hatred going on... Add in the chemical modification, and things can get freaky fast.

 
Every so often, I get to say "That's bullshit. Leave!"

Nah.  Give every one of them a gun. That should solve half the problem.

[JTHunter]

Where I live is considered a "sleeper" or "bedroom community".  While I'm not too far from St. Louis, I rarely go there anymore (retired).
The costs of trying to get a CCP in IL-ANNOY is prohibitively expensive, esp. for someone on SS.  Plus, too many of the places I go (drs., hospitals, etc.) are posted and the signage in IL-ANNOY has the "force of law" behind it. 
There are "bad areas" in this city but I'm fortunate in that the few stores I frequent are not in those areas.

[MechAg94]

Problem is that there are so many chemically modified folks out running around, and they have VERY poor impulse control... Couple that with a lot of people who have been told that they have been oppressed since they entered the government indoctrination system, and that they should have a fiery hatred going on... Add in the chemical modification, and things can get freaky fast.

 
Every so often, I get to say "That's bullshit. Leave!"

Don't forget the tendency for prosecutors to give plea bargains to move cases through such that people don't see harsh consequences.  Also judges not giving tough sentences.  That is not just happening in big blue cities.

[230RN]

Don't forget the tendency for prosecutors to give plea bargains to move cases through such that people don't see harsh consequences.  Also judges not giving tough sentences.  That is not just happening in big blue cities.

"Yeah, I can do three months of probation standing on my head!"

[K Frame]

Still nothing in the local news so it must have not been as bad as it was either alleged or seemed.

[cordex]

Still nothing in the local news so it must have not been as bad as it was either alleged or seemed.

As I became more aware of the number and nature of local crimes, I realized that only a small proportion ever get mentioned by the press, and an even smaller proportion get covered in depth. 

When I lived in a suburban neighborhood and gangbangers attending a party across the street from me had a shootout right beside my house that ended with a half dozen of my neighbor's houses hit by gunfire I expected that to be a big local story.  Since there were no bodies it never even made it to the news that I was able to determine.

[K Frame]

Having been a member of the press who covered the crime beat, yes.

However, the nature of the press has changed immensely since I started my career.

These days, for local news, I don't go to WTOP (the large DC market news radio station) or one of the local newspapers, I go to the local edition of the Patch. The local Patch covers news that rarely shows up in other, larger, traditional news venues.

A few years ago there was a mulch fire in my community. Not much of a fire at all. Yet it was full reported in the local edition of the Patch. That's my house in the center of the picture, by the by.

https://patch.com/virginia/fairfaxcity/fairfax-city-firefighters-respond-mulch-fire-county-home

The local patch is full of similar examples of news that none of the larger outlets would touch, so that's why I'm thinking that the incident at my local grocery was a real nothing burger.

[Kingcreek]

We have almost no local news anymore.

[cordex]

However, the nature of the press has changed immensely since I started my career.

For sure.  Looking back at old newspapers it is amazing to see the kinds of things that were reported on ("so and so has left for a three week railway tour of the pacific northwest", "Mrs. X had a birthday party hosted by her sister.  Snacks were served and much fun was had by all", "Mr. Y was struck by a falling ice block at the icehouse but is expected to make a full recovery" etc).

The local patch is full of similar examples of news that none of the larger outlets would touch, so that's why I'm thinking that the incident at my local grocery was a real nothing burger.

Maybe, but just because patch.com is happy to publish someone's article about a particular little thing doesn't mean they have the resources to look into everything.  I'm guessing that if someone threw together an article and some photos about the event you saw they'd publish it just as readily.

[K Frame]

Even in my community, which is quite metropolitan, that kind of police and EMS response is quite atypical. I'd have suspected that it would have garnered at least the same kind of attention that the incident of the guy with the machete (at the same location) did a couple of weeks before.

Who knows. It may yet.

Oh, and the author of the fire near my house? He's actual paid Patch staff, not some schlub with an instamatic and a steno book.

[K Frame]

OK, it finally hit the Patch this morning.

"FAIRFAX CITY, VA — A 59-year-old Fairfax man faces an assault charge in connection with an incident that occurred Saturday morning at a Fairfax City grocery store.

Around 11:27 a.m., City of Fairfax Police officers responded to the Giant Food at 9400 Fairfax Blvd. for the report of an assault. The officers determined that a man assaulted an other person following an argument.

Police issued a summons for misdemeanor assault to Joseph Fowlkes of Fairfax and then released him. Fowlkes has Fairfax City District Court hearing on June 4."

Apparently not a robbery.